The IIC (Knowledge Engineering Institute) in Madrid, Spain, is looking for industrial ESPRIT partners in Northern Europe. ICC intends to add features to its multimodule real-time control system, including neural networks, fuzzy logic, and qualitative modeling. [Seshashayee Murthy (murthy@emdcci11.bitnet), NL-KR, 9/13.]

Cap Gemini Sogeti S.A. (CGS), Europe's largest computer services company (at $1.7B in 1990 sales), has been on an international buying spree. Last year it bought control of Hoskyns Group PLC, a British software company; purchased Scientific Control Systems (Germany) from SD-Scicon PLC; and bought control of United Research (Morristown, NJ). This January it bought control of MAC Group Inc. (Cambridge, MA). Now Daimler-Benz A.G. (Germany) is purchasing control of Sogeti S.A. of France, the parent of CGS. (The deal includes $445M for 34% of Sogeti plus an option to buy majority control after 2/95.) Daimler-Benz has also been diversifying into electronics and defense, and established its own 4,000-person computer-services company, Debis Systemhaus, last year.

SD-Scicon sold to CGS for cash to fight off takeover bids by Cray Electronics PLC and by Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS), a subsidiary of General Motors Corp. EDS already owns 25% of SD-Scicon, having bought the stock from British Aerospace PLC.

Thorn EMI PLC (Britain) has gotten out of the software business by selling 80% of Thorn EMI Software to its management. The $197M spin-off is being renamed Data Sciences. [These items from Roger Woolnough, EE Times, 8/12.]